1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of cleaning equipment. More particularly, this invention pertains to carpet cleaning equipment and to a unique brush assembly that is useful in removing hard-to-remove deposits from carpets such as chewing gum and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
America is swiftly becoming an entertainment-oriented society. The few old-time restaurants and large, single movie houses have given way to numerous specialized and cultural-oriented restaurants and very large, multi-movie complexes that show a variety of different movies. In other aspects of our daily lives, there has been an explosion of banks, shops, craft stores, dentist's offices, doctor's offices and the like, such that Americans spend more and more time away from their homes.
Each of these businesses have one thing in common; they all are carpeted. Carpets are used to provide color and style to the interior decor, muffle the sound of walking, reduce the disturbing influence of talking among adults, giggling by children, and shouting by others, as well as to enhance the warmth of the interior and provide comfort to the feet. Carpeting usually consumes a substantial portion of the start-up capitalization of any business, and its useful life is often measured by how much the owner spends on keeping it clean and free from damaging trash.
With the change in life style from home-bound to office, shop and store-user, business owners have experienced a significant increase in the soiling of their carpeting. Because of the cost of new carpeting, keeping the existing carpeting clean and useful is both a duty and an advantage in lowering operating costs. In answer to the pressure of increased carpet cleaning, both carpet manufacturers have moved to stronger carpets, i.e., longer wearing fibers fixed in a tighter and longer lasting weave, while carpet cleaning equipment manufacturers have built and sold increasing amounts of equipment for the business owner to use in keeping his carpets clean.
Beyond the standard air vacuum cleaner, that is limited to cleaning carpets of dry debris, such as dust, lint, and the like, the only other carpet cleaning equipment of significant existence is the liquid-vacuum carpet cleaning machine. This machine operates on a principal of spraying a fine mist of low-foaming, soap-based cleaning liquid onto the surface of the carpet and following this almost immediately with a pass of a vacuum nozzle that sucks up the liquid along with water soluble dirt products. The vacuum thus cleans the carpet of both dry material and the surface of the fibers, where most of the contact occurs with those walking over it, is slightly washed to remove other dirt and stains. Annually or when needed, the carpets may be subjected to a deep steam cleaning to remove other products that are not picked up by dry vacuuming or the water-based washing. This deep cleaning, however, has its own disadvantages, such as changing the shape of the carpets, bleaching the color of the carpeting, loosening tacked-down carpets, and such and thus finds limited repeat application.
For reasons not fully understood, along with an increase in foot traffic on carpeting is an increase in the use of chewing gum. Whether this is just the normal outgrowth of better and more wide-spread chewing gum advertising, or is the result of a more nervous population, the fact remains that business owners are experiencing more and more deposits of chewing gum on their carpets. Chewing gum is probably the worst enemy of carpet. It is quickly walked down into the fibers; it attaches itself easily to shoe soles so that bits and pieces break off the original deposit (on the carpet) and are deposited in surrounding areas of the same or nearby carpet. Dirt and other debris stick to it. And, if not quickly removed, it is worked, by those walking on it, further and further down into the fibers of the carpet to a point deep enough to cause severe mechanical damage to the carpet backing. This results in such an unsightly mess that the carpet must be removed and replaced with new carpeting. All in all, chewing gum removal is the most expensive problem to carpet owners outside of total replacement.
I have provided the public with a solution to this problem in the form of my chewing gum-removing carpet cleaning device disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,337. It is a special piece of equipment that can be used on deposits of chewing gum no matter if they are fresh or have existed for some time and removes them completely so that the carpet is like new again.
The prior art has attempted to combine a common brush with the liquid-vacuum carpet cleaning machine in an effort to have it deal with hard-to-remove stains and deposits. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,199,643; 2,214.862; 4,014,068; 4,019,218; 4,156,952; 4,447,931; and, 4,638,526 all show carpet cleaning devices utilizing various types of brushes in an effort to force the cleaning liquid deeper into the fibers to remove deep stains and dirt. Unfortunately, these devices have not proven to be as efficacious as their designers had hoped. Primarily, it appears that the brushes are not located such that significant pressure can be applied to them to force the bristles down into the fibers in the brush. What results is merely a slight brush of the top of the fibers by the brush that provides only a slight improvement in the normal amount of cleaning of the carpet.